Free Downloads, Articles & Published Papers

The Future Of

Stage One of the revamp is well underway. Here's the list of headings below which contain articles, papers, presentations and Ideas Pieces that are all Free Downloads!

Topics are: Future of Australia; Future of Beer; Future of Business; Future of Careers; Future of Cars; Future of Consumer Products; Future of Dairy Industry; Future of Death; Future of Dentistry; Future of Eco-Industrial Parks; Future of Economy; Future of Education; Future of Employment; Future of Energy; Future of Environmental Scanning; Future of Farming; Future of Food; Future of Forecasting; Future of Foresight and Futures Methods; Future of Manufacturing; Future of Generations; Future of Health; Future of Income; Future of Innovation; Future of Jobs; Future of Libraries; Future of Logistics & Transport; Future of Parenting; Future of Planning; Future of QANTAS; Future of Radio; Future of Robotics; Future of Scenarios; Future of Sex; Future of Spiral Dynamics; Future of Supply Chains; Future of Sustainability; Future of Technology; Future of Television; Future of Telstra; Future of Values; Future of Water; Future of Whaling; Future of Wildcards; Future of Women; Future of Working; Future of Workplaces and others as they appear.

Looking Up Feeling Good can provide training, presentations, key note speaking & other strategic options for your business designed to suit your needs. Most of the links to Public Presentations are now active - enjoy the read and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have or hear your feedback

If you have any questions in the meantime about anything in what you read or if you are looking to Find a Futurist for your next conference or strategy session, by all meansask away! Material from the 3rd Australasian Foresight Conference held in Perth - lots of photos and presentations will be uploaded the the conference facebook page at Australasian Foresight Conference Material looking at the future of cities, education, psychotherapy, cybernetics and more

Australia 2020 Futurists Summit: In March 2008 a group of Australian Futurists were convened to respond to the upcoming Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra, an initiative of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. In anticipation, Australian Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber sent an invite out to a group of colleagues to come together to provide a 'futurists' look' at the Summit themes, likely outcomes and to provide an additional way of considering how Australia's future might unfold. Given the independent nature of the gathering of futurists, the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit provided perhaps more scope to critique the themes, identify the potential biases inherent in the framing of the themes and suggest ways that 'vested interests' of all sides are likely to respond to any attempt to shape Australia's future.

To help maintain integrity of the output, the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit report was embargoed from public release until AFTER the Prime Minister's Summit in Canberra a few months later. This step was taken in direct contrast the the flurry of 'white paper' styled press releases issued by interest groups of all kinds which Marcus Barber saw as a deliberate attempt to influence the thinking of participants at the Summit in Canberra and therein the likely outcomes. Perhaps surprisingly, despite the Summit being called to discuss the future of Australia, NOT ONE Australian futurist was invited to attend. In his covering letter for the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit report to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Marcus Barber lamented that 'although there were plenty of experts in their respective fields of advertising, health, economics and so on, no Australian Futurists attended your summit.’ The attached Australia 2020 Futurists Summit report is the output from all those who contributed to the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit.

Ideas Piece - The Australian Presidential RaffleThe Republican movement got it all wrong. Rather than borrow some model from overseas, we need to select our President using an Australian Icon - the good old raffle!

The Future of Beer

Will alcohol have a legitimate place in societies in years to come? As we slowly awaken to the horrendous impact of alcohol related harm and it's social and financial costs, will Australia's widely held acceptance of alcohol consumption begin to wane?The Future of Beer

Stakeholder Magazine (June-Aug 09)- in a brief article for Stakeholder Magazine - published by the City of Greater Dandenong's Economic Development Unit, futurist Marcus Barber suggests that in times of turbulence, business don't have the time to panic; Merge Magazine: story by Joshua Fanning looking at what people can do in times of economic downturns to help their local places of business. Some of Marcus Barber's thoughts appear in the article available online (link to article) about why a dollar really does make a difference to the local business.

Ideas Piece - Advertising & Australia's CultureWhy do advertisers insist on using commercials from overseas? Surely if these companies want us to spend our Australian dollars buying their products, the least they could do is use Australian made TV commercials?

At the 'Reinventing Progress' conference in Cairns, run by CaFNEC I guided the group thorugh thinkng about the future of their region, how it might develop and importantly the signals they are relying on to make their decisions. This 7min YouTube clip has the first part of that presentation

Book: 'The Money Tree and How to Grow One - Creating Success in Your Business'- Geared towards business owners and managers of business divisions, each chapter is a specific area of focus, from 'managing a sales team' to 'effective marketing' and 'The 3 E's of Business' to case study examples and more. Originally published in 2000 by TBRB, it was updated in 2006 and again in 2011 and is now available in CD format - contact us directly to purchase a copy.

Book: 'Recession Proof Marketing - How to Survive and Thrive in a Recession'. Co-authored by Tod O'Reilly and Marcus Barber, this e-book is a short, punchy 'how to and must do' tome aimed at assisting businesses with their marketing focus during the 'lean times'. Due for completion when the two authors find the time to finish it this is very much a 'hands on' book that is less about theory and more about the action. Pre-orders will be available when the book nears it's final state!

The Future of Careers – See 'Jobs of the Future' heading below

The Future of Cars - Ideas Piece - The end of Speed related AccidentsWhat would you say if someone suggested that speeding fines actually encouraged speeding? Society already has the technological know how to solve the majority of speed related accidents in this country. What is preventing our success is our social approaches to traffic management and the motor vehicle. This ideas piece offers some suggestions as to how we might dramatically reduce speed related vehicle accidents and the cost of human lives, family pain and financial resources used to deal with the challenge. Here's a chat with Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Darwin looking at the Future of Cars and self drive options

The Future of Risk in a Fast Changing World: Understanding Cascading Discontinuity Sets - Journal of Future Studies:'Wildcards - Signals from a Future near you'(full article). In this paper Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber discusses the use of 'Wildcard' events - those seemingly impossible, 'never going to happen' events that are the cause of major disruption and areas of increased Risk. In the piece a new strategic tool called the 'Reference Impact Grid' (RIG) and a new Wildcard category referred to as a 'Cascading Discontinuity Set' (CDS) are discussed and proposed as useful tools for strategy and risk managers.

The Future of Causal Layered Analysis - Futures: 'All you need is a 3LA'. This paper is one of a series responding to a previous Futures edition focused on Ken Wilber's Intergral Theory. In my paper I respond to the suggestion that Causal Layered Analaysis (CLA) requires to be 'tricked up' using the Integral Theory to make it a more useful tool in futures work - a notion I reject. People wishing to review the paper for educational purposes can contact me to request a review copy or can contact Elsevier to purchase a copy (Request copy of paper for review)

The Future of Consumer Products - Vicki Kerrigan and I have a chat about Anti-Bacterial Soaps and how they might be killing you due to the main ingredient - Triclosan!

The Future Dairy Industry - Presentations from the Industry conference in Queensland in 2009 where I warned the dairy farmers attending that 'supermarkets are not your friends' and implored them to find an alternative 'go to market' stream to counteract what I suggested would be a war on their livelihoods. I'll upload them soon

The Future of Dentistry - Vicki Kerrigan and I have a chat about Dentistry of the Future – here's your chance to Grow Your Own replacement teeth after the old ones have worn out!

The Future of Death - 'Death and Anti-Death, Volume 5 - Thirty Years After Loren Eiseley' (1907 - 1977)'. Edited by Dr. Charles Tandy, published by Ria University Press 2008, this is anthology five in the series. I've written the first chapter titled: 'Asking the unaskable question - do people have a right NOT to die?'. I explore the use of advanced technology to keep people alive and ask whether, given the costs of those technologies, any one individual should be able to use wealth to extend their own life at a time of extreme life disparity across the world. The book is available at Amazon here

The Future of Eco-Industrial Parks - Eastern Riverina Chronicle where Marcus Barber was both key note speaker and Master of Ceremonies for Lockhart's Eco-Industrial forum. This link takes you to the online report and the copy of the full article text can be downloaded here. The Lockhart event saw some of Australia's leading experts in industrial ecology, symbiosis and energy discuss the benefits of Eco Industrial parks and what they can do not only for local communities like Lockhart, but also for business sustainability and profitability. As the Strategic Futurist, Marcus Barber focused on the emerging issues likely to change the pressures on business and how symbiotic relationship enhance the way businesses run. The event was also covered on Prime News on the 9th of October;

Innovation in Your Supply Chain'was published in Fast Thinking under the title 'One Man's Garbage'. This article looks at the process of symbiosis as it applies to supply chain management and how one company's waste could become another company's treasure! (Original article available here)

Stakeholder Magazine (June-Aug 09)- in a brief article for Stakeholder Magazine - published by the City of Greater Dandenong's Economic Development Unit, futurist Marcus Barber suggests that in times of turbulence, business don't have the time to panic;

Merge Magazine: The online edition ran a story by Joshua Fanning looking at what people can do in times of economic downturns to help their local places of business. I offered Joshua a few thoughts (some of) which appear in the article available online (link to article) about why a

dollar really does make a difference to the local business.

Book: 'The Money Tree and How to Grow One - Creating Success in Your Business'- now available in CD format - contact us directly to purchase a copy. Book: Recession Proof Marketing - How to Survive and Thrive in a Recession'. Co-authored by Tod O'Reilly and Marcus Barber, an e-book due for completion by the end of 2012, this is very much a 'hands on' book that is less about theory and more about the action. Pre-orders can be made via this link

The Future of Education -This discussion takes place on the Stephen Downes website (downes.ca) a Canadian specialist in education and learning. Stephen is one of the very few people I 'follow' online. Stephen, Christian Long and I have a brief chat (with links to articles) about Pattern Recognition and what I refer to as the need to teach kids 'unpatterning' to improve their thinking methods.

'Committing Universities to Sustainable Development' (UNESCO - Austria, 2005) Full Powerpoint The paper was published in conference proceedings was listed under the abstract 'Sustainability - Why Bother?' by M Barber Full Paper available.

The Future of Education Conference (Swinburne University - Adelaide 2003) Using Value Systems in Education(Abstract of Powerpoint)

The Future of Employment - The Age:'The Tiger Woods Effect' 2008. Motivate employees via the 8 Factors model (link) . 'The Money Tree and How to Grow One - Creating Success in Your Business' is available in CD format -contact us directlyto purchase a copy.

The Future of Energy - ABC Darwin's Vicki Kerrigan and I have a chat about the likely causes of increasing energy costs in the Northern Territory and what Territorians might need to do to prepare. The Future of Energy

The Future of Farming - Ideas Piece -Accurate Product Labelling If we are serious about protecting Australian jobs and in particular the farming community in this country, it's time that product labelling accurately reflected where the content came from and where the product was manufactured.The Australian consumer deserves the right to choose to buy products based on their geographical origin and to do so, we need accurate product labelling

The Future of Foresight & Futures Methods - Journal of Future Studies:'Wildcards - Signals from a Future near you'(full article). Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber discusses 'Wildcard' events - those seemingly impossible, 'never going to happen' events that are the cause of major disruption.

World Futures Review 'A Drop in the Ocean for Foresight Practitioners' (full article) Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber proposes a new universal currency based on one litre of water, called 'the Global' as well as showing how all trade exchanges rely on water availability. The paper suggests (among other things) that societies will be forced to choose between high water use and low water use products and processes and that it is fresh water (and not oil) that is the single most significant requirement for all countries regardless of their status of development.

Questioning Scenariospublished in Futures is Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber's look at the process of scenarios - what makes them work, what makes them 'useless' and how to avoid the traps that beset many users of the Scenario process, thus making them more useful for setting organisational strategy. See also 'Which Scenario Process is Right for You?'

Leveraging Organisational Values for Sustainability Initiativesis my contribution to a Sustainability volume edited by Stephen McGrail, and my piece looks at how Value Systems theory (aka Spiral Dynamics) can be tapped into to enhance the way organisations approach the need for sustainability activities as part of their ongoing ability to operate; Futures Research Quarterly:'An Hypothesis of Value Systems as Foresight Frameworks' (Full Paper) Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber looks at the idea of Value Systems - the bio/psycho/social model developed by Clare W Graves and later to become 'Spiral Dynamics' through the ongoing work of Don Beck and Chris Cowan, and how each Value System approaches the idea of 'future' - where they get their clues and guidance about what path their future will take. Futures: 'All you need is a 3LA'. This paper responds to a previous Futures edition focused on Ken Wilber's Intergral Theory. (Request copy of paper for review)

The Future of General - Adelaide Independent Weekly '09 How businesses can avoid recession (Link to article here); Brisbane Courier Mail: 'Discipline, routine keys to working from home' (link);The Age: 'The World Tomorrow' 2008 article by Leon Gettler looking at how our world might look in the future. Marcus Barber is first to respond to the blog (link).

Nine to Five Magazine '09 by Elise Pitt asked Marcus Barber to look at aspects of the future and also changes to the greater Sydney area, mixed with a view from Stacey Demarco, 2009 Psychic of the year whose views were somewhat different; Julie Farthing's Career Report: Julie Farthing's blogspot, discusses the rise of 'the futurist' as a career, as well as relating her approach to helping her clients to how futurists help their clients deal with the emerging future. Julie manages to separate some of the alternative offerings from some of the more involved futurists she mentions - Bernard Salt, Maree Conway and myself;

Essay- A metaphorical look at the 20th Century and cultural approaches to sustainability and protection of the planet was pursued in this piece, originally submitted to my Master's program. The piece jumps forward to the 21st Century where a panel of eminent entities were discussing the history of the planet back in the 20th Century. Looking Back at the 20th Century - a view from the future

The Future of Generations – Boomers; Gen X; Millennials; Others - The Age:'The Tiger Woods Effect' by Leon Gettler article 2008. ways to motivate employees via the 8 Factors model (link);Sydney Morning Herald: 'Technology and Teenagers' 2006 by Roulla Yiacoumi looking at the differences in the ways generations approach communicating with each other. Marcus Barber offers his thoughts as to the true tool of choice for teens and why it is so(link)Leveraging Organisational Values for Sustainability Initiativesis my contribution to an in-depth Futures Sustainability volume edited by Stephen McGrail, and my piece looks at how Value Systems (aka Spiral Dynamics) can be tapped to enhance the way organisations approach the need for sustainability activities as part of their ability to operate.

The Future of Health - Ideas Piece - A Potential Answer to the Health System CrisisWhy do we find it so hard to make the Public Health System and Private Health System work together? Is it because there are so many vested interests in keeping us sick and unhealthy? The ideas in this piece could shake up a few 'sacred cows' in the health sector!; Ideas Piece - The end of Speed related Accidents What would you say if someone suggested that speeding fines actually encouraged speeding? Society already has the technological know how to solve the majority of speed related accidents in this country. What is preventing our success is our social approaches to traffic management and the motor vehicle. This ideas piece offers some suggestions as to how we might dramatically reduce speed related vehicle accidents and the cost of human lives, family pain and financial resources used to deal with the challenge. Ideas Piece - Making Cigarette Packet Warnings Work 'Your Breath Stinks!' 'Hey did you know your gums were bleeding?' You can't solve a short term gain using a long term message. If cigarette packet warnings are to have any long term impact they need to target short term pain. Here's a chat with Vicki Kerrigan discussing Hospitals and in home health technology

The Future of Income - See the headings of Business; Economy & Workplaces for additional ideas on Income

The Future of Innovation – Book: 'Killing Trends: The Graceful Art of Innovation'. Does your business understand the difference between 'creativity' and 'Innovation'? Does it know exactly how to 'do' innovation and where specifically it should target its efforts? Does it understand how to establish, nurture, protect and leverage the efforts of a focused innovation capability? This incisive book lays it all on the table and along the way, shows that the 'innovation industry' is kidding itself when it thinks it encourages innovation because by and large efforts at innovation are poorly targeted and lack clear criteria for what is and isn't innovative outcomes, as well as guiding you through a specific and well defined Innovation process. Due to be completed in November you can pre-order your copy bycontacting us directly

The Future of Libraries – I'll be posting my presentation to the Public Libraries NSW conference on the Future of Libraries soon and in the meantime, here's my chat with Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Darwin on the Future of Libraries

The Future of Logistics and Transport – I'll be adding some more thoughts here and in the meantime check out the Supply Chain heading below...

Future of Manufacturing - in this item I look at the drivers of change within the Manufacturing sector, in particular the rise of 3D printing, inhome engineering and Crowdsourcing. The likely impact o manufacturing, Transport & Logistics and Retail sectors is of 'game-changer' proportions

The Future of Parenting - ABC Darwin's Vicki Kerrigan and I discuss the Future of Parenting - is it time you needed a license to become a parent?

Future of Planning - What steps do you need to take for your Organisation or yourself, in order to maximise your chances of Getting Your Future Right? With the book 'Getting Your Future Right' now available you have one model that should help

The Future of Qantas - Does QANTAS have a future and if so, what does it look like? I'm just completing an Ideas Piece on the Future of QANTAS which will offer some observations of what was once the world's safest airline.

The Future of Radio – I'll be putting up links to all of my radio interviews here in coming weeks. Many are already on the page

The Future of Reference Impact Grid -See the article under Wildcards for an overview of the RIG

The Future of Robotics - Posted to Thoughtware.TV, the Future Matters segment where Marcus Barber talks about the (Link) Future of Robotics, complete with subtitles for our Danish friends

The Future of Scenarios - Questioning Scenariospublished in Futures is Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber's look at the process of scenarios - what makes them work, what makes them 'useless' and how to avoid the traps that beset many users of the Scenario process, thus making them more useful for setting organisational strategy.

The Future of Sex – I'm still working on this one ;-) Most stories will look at the Future of Sex which is adding 'remote', 'virtual' and 'haptics' (electronic touch) into the mix Here's Future of Sex Part1 and here's Future of Sex Part 2

The Future of Spiral Dynamics – See the Values heading for papers tied to the Spiral Dynamics model, and the paper 'A Drop in the Ocean' found under the Water heading. The Future of Education Conference (Swinburne University - Adelaide 2003) Using Value Systems in Education (Abstract of Powerpoint)

The Future of Sport - In this chat with ABC Darwin's Richard Margenston, we discuss the Future of Sport, sports funding, technology, cloning and participation. As well as my call for the AUSSI – the Australian Unified Sport & Science Institute

The Future of Supply Chains - Supply Chain Logistics News.Net 'Queensland Supply Chain conference begins in the Future, end in hysterics' Michael Bennet (article link)Eastern Riverina Chronicle Marcus Barber was both key note speaker and Master of Ceremonies for Lockhart's Eco-Industrial forum. This link takes you to the online report and the copy of the full article text can be downloaded here.Benefits of Eco Industrial parks for business sustainability and profitability. Logistics: 'Ripe for Change' by Anna Game-Lopata for the Supply Chain website looked at how the Supply Chain of the futuremight evolve overtime. Marcus Barber and others provide a great overview of current and emerging issues in Supply Chain and Logistics (link to article) 'Innovation in Your Supply Chain' was published in Fast Thinking under the title 'One Man's Garbage'. This article looks at the process of symbiosis as it applies to supply chain management and how one company's waste could become another company's treasure! (Original article available here)

The Future of Sustainability - Eastern Riverina Chronicle Marcus Barber was both key note speaker and Master of Ceremonies for Lockhart's Eco-Industrial forum. This link takes you to the online report and the copy of the full article text can be downloaded here.Benefits of Eco Industrial parks for business sustainability and profitability.

Journal of Cleaner Production: 'Increasing the rate of sustainable change: a call for the redefinition and concept of the model for implementation'(Marcus Barber, co authored with E Goncz, U Skirke & H Kleizen) The paper discusses the need to redefine what we mean by 'Sustainable Development' along with a call to significantly alter the typical mechanisms through which we attempt to 'install' sustainable initiatives into places with ill fitting 'solutions'(Abstract) Along with the Introduction, Marcus Barber's contribution offers a model for engaging people on the sustainable development journey (full paper available here)

In this 7minute Youtube clip you'll see the start of my facilitation of the Reinventing Progress session put together by CaFNEC in Cairns. This session follows on from others who were discussing issues of sustainability and regional development - clip is here

The Future of Technology - Sydney Morning Herald: 'Technology and Teenagers' by Roulla Yiacoumi looking at the differences in the ways generations approach communicating with each other. Marcus Barber offers his thoughts as to the true tool of choice for teens and why it is so (link).

In this audio I chat with ABC Radio's Annie Gaffney in Brisbane about the Opposition's Broadband Policy, whether it will be up to scratch and what it means for businesses in the areas of health in particular - Marcus Barber & Annie Gaffney on ABC Radio

The Future of Television - Running on the back of their highly successful 'FAQ's series, the National Geographic Channel commissioned a series to look at emerging technologies and their potential implications on our lives. The first program went to air in May 2006 and looked at issues such as flying cars, robotics, the home of the future and smart technologies among others with the second show pushing the boundaries of the future of Sex, Sleep and Death 'Future Matters' - TV Program from the National Geographic Channel

The Future of Telstra - Ideas Piece -Privatising Telstra by DemutualisingThe idea of selling taxpayer shares in Telstra was misleading - we owned it so why 'buy it' again? In the future a much fairer idea is to GIVE shares to every Australian based on their years as an Australian Taxpayer. Then if they choose to keep or sell the shares, that is their choice

The Future of Values & Value Systems - The Age:'The Tiger Woods Effect' by Leon Gettler article 2008. I respond to the article and cite research offering alternatives ways to motivate employees via the 8 Factors model (link to article);Leveraging Organisational Values for Sustainability Initiativesis my contribution to a Sustainability volume in The Journal Futures edited by Stephen McGrail, and my piece looks at how Value Systems theory (aka Spiral Dynamics) can be tapped into to enhance the way organisations approach the need for sustainability activities as part of their ongoing ability to operate; Journal of Cleaner Production:'Increasing the rate of sustainable change: a call for the redefinition and concept of the model for implementation'(Marcus Barber, co authored with E Goncz, U Skirke & H Kleizen) The paper discusses the need to redefine what we mean by 'Sustainable Development' along with a call to significantly alter the typical mechanisms through which we attempt to 'install' sustainable initiatives into places with ill fitting 'solutions'(Abstract). Along with the Introduction, Marcus Barber's contribution offers a model for engaging people on the sustainable development journey (full paper available here). Futures Research Quarterly:'An Hypothesis of Value Systems as Foresight Frameworks'(Full Paper) Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber looks at the idea of Value Systems - the bio/psycho/social model developed by Clare W Graves and later to become 'Spiral Dynamics' through the ongoing work of Don Beck and Chris Cowan, and how each Value System approaches the idea of 'future' - where they get their clues and guidance about what path their future will take. Ideas Piece - Advertising & Australia's CultureWhy do advertisers insist on using commercials from overseas? Surely if these companies want us to spend our Australian dollars buying their products, the least they could do is use Australian made TV commercials?

The Future of Water – Journal of Future Studies 'A drop in the Ocean for Foresight Practitioners' 'full article) Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber proposes a new universal currency based on one litre of water, called 'the Global' as well as showing how all trade exchanges rely on water availability. The paper suggests (among other things) that societies will be forced to choose between high water use and low water use products and processes and that it is fresh water (and not oil) that is the single most significant requirement for all countries regardless of their status of development.

Central Highlands Water have just undertaken an extensive Scenario Planning project, the outputs of which now include an Executive Summary of the Environmental Scan; the full Environmental Scan with over 40 pages of links and analysis; a DVD of the scenario presentations; a DVD that covers an overview of the Accelerated Scenario process (ASp) and what Central Highlands Water were aiming at achieving; and a list of Robust Strategies in response to the key issues emerging from the scenarios. We are hoping that CHW make the overview of the Scenarios available to the wider public and now the Environmental Scanning Executive Summary is available for download via the link; and this is the short Video produced to kick off the exploration of the Future in 2030 - What if...Water?

'World Water Week 2011'(Stockholm International Water Institute)Full PowerpointThis PDF file covers all slides used as part of Marcus Barber's presentation on how Central Highlands Water applied Scenarios as part of their strategic and operational planning process. There are only 20 slides used with additional links embedded to other papers related to the process.

'From Forecasting to Scenarios in Water Agencies'is the Full Paperco-authored with Mr Phillip Anstis of Central Highlands Water. This paper forms part of my presentation at 2011 World Water Week, run by the Stockholm International Water Institute (www.siwi.org). The paper addresses the flaws in a reliance on forecasting for setting organisational strategy, and how scenarios can substantially improve strategic thinking and resource allocation.

IXC's Water Innovation ConferenceThis linktakes you to the presentation at the Water Technologies Breakthrough Forum in May 2008. Titled '3I7M' (which stands for 'Three ideas in seven minutes') Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber provoked thinking by suggesting that 'new water technologies won't save us'

The Future of Whaling – See my the piece 'How to Stop Whaling in its Tracks' in the EVENTS section

The Future of Wildcards - Journal of Future Studies:'Wildcards - Signals from a Future near you'(full article). In this article Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber discusses the use of 'Wildcard' events - those seemingly impossible, 'never going to happen' events that are the cause of major disruption. In the piece a new strategic tool called the 'Reference Impact Grid' (RIG) and a new Wildcard category referred to as a 'Cascading Discontinuity Set' (CDS) are discussed and proposed as useful tools for strategy and risk managers.

The Future of Women - Women Making It Work- Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber's presentation to the WMIW networking group, looking at the types of events likely to influence growth of businesses in coming years;

The Future of Working - Brisbane Courier Mail: 'Discipline, routine keys to working from home' (link to article)Occupational Health News Edn 857: Following a presentation made to the Australiasian Institute of Occupational Hygienists' annual conference where I looked at emerging issues in the field of Occupational Hygiene, editor Johanna Egberts-Huf penned the following article .

Workplaces - Adelaide Independent Weekly '09 How businesses can avoid recession(Link to article here); Brisbane Courier Mail: 'Discipline, routine keys to working from home' (link)The Age: 'The Tiger Woods Effect' by Leon Gettler article 2008. Alternatives ways to motivate employees via the 8 Factors model(link). Supply Chain Logistics News.Net 2008 'Queensland Supply Chain conference begins in the Future, end in hysterics' Michael Bennet (article link)Women Making It Work- Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber's presentation to the WMIW networking group, looking at the types of events likely to influence growth of businesses in coming years; Stakeholder Magazine (June-Aug 09)- (Link to Article) - published by the City of Greater Dandenong's Economic Development Unit, futurist Marcus Barber suggests that in times of turbulence, business don't have the time to panic; Logistics: 'Ripe for Change' by Anna Game-Lopata for the Supply Chain website July 2008, which looked at how the Supply Chain of the future might evolve overtime. Anna interviewed Marcus Barber along with others to create a great overview of current and emerging issues in Supply Chain and Logistics (link to article); Merge Magazine: by Joshua Fanning looking at what people can do in times of economic downturns to help their local places of business. I offered Joshua a few thoughts (some of) which appear in the article available online (link to article) about why a dollar really does make a difference to the local business. 'The Money Tree and How to Grow One - Creating Success in Your Business'- Geared towards business owners and managers of business divisions, each chapter is a specific area of focus, from 'managing a sales team' to 'effective marketing' and 'The 3 E's of Business' to case study examples and more. Originally published in 2000 by TBRB, it was updated in 2006 and 2011 and is now available in CD format - contact us directly to purchase a copy.

Radio, Writings & Books

Here you'll find assorted writings on futures related topics, miscellaneous articles not found elsewhere and snippets from views published in newspapers, online websites and work with the National Geographic Channel TV program 'Future Matters'.

Books

'The Money Tree and How to Grow One - Creating Success in Your Business'; 'Killing Trends: The Graceful Art of Innovation'; 'Death and Anti-Death, Volume 5 - Thirty Years After Loren Eiseley' (1907 - 1977)'. 'Recession Proof Marketing - How to Survive and Thrive in a Recession', Co-authored by Tod O'Reilly; and 'Getting Your Future Right' which is at the printers right now

Radio

Central Highlands Water have just undertaken an extensive Scenario Planning project, the outputs of which now include an Executive Summary of the Environmental Scan; the full Environmental Scan with over 40 pages of links and analysis; a DVD of the scenario presentations; a DVD that covers an overview of the Accelerated Scenario process (ASp) and what Central Highlands Water were aiming at achieving; and a list of Robust Strategies in response to the key issues emerging from the scenarios. We are hoping that CHW make the overview of the Scenarios available to the wider public and in the meantime, the Environmental Scanning Executive Summary is now available for download via the link.

More Ideas Pieces, podcasts, and bits & pieces will be posted here from time to time and for now try the following:

Posted to Thoughtware.TV, the Future Matters segment where Marcus Barber talks about the Future of Robotics, complete with subtitles for our Danish friends

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Events

Using Foresight Thinking to Enhance the Productivity of NationsFriday 9 March 2018
As Nations look to develop their understanding of Productivity and more effective planning, National Productivity Councils are often the first point of call for Governments looking for ideas. The Asia Productivity Organisation has been running since 1961 helping its member countries develop more effective approaches. I've just spent a week in Tokyo helping a group of them think about the future Read more...

The 2nd Order Effect of a CryptoCurrency CollapseTuesday 6 February 2018
Recently there was a purging, a market correction, a balancing of portfolios, call it what you like, but #Cryptocurrency like #Bitcoin & Ethereum got smashed, losing huge % of perceived value in a little more than a day. And now, two weeks or so later, the mainstream stock market is following suit. The 'Why' is to me, pretty obvious - Read more...

Time to Save our Ocean HealthTuesday 16 January 2018
Creating the Future you want may well require you to Think Smaller, not Bigger. Or at least think More Focused. Here's a look Strategic Planning through an idea of Re-oxygenating the Oceans Read more...